A New Beginning
by Kikachubachan
Summary: This is an epilogue for the book. Jonas takes Gabriel to find new civilizations.


A/N: Yeah, so I wrote this for a class project back a few years after we read _The Giver_ so it's not really that great. Not genuine fanfic I mean, because it was an assignment. We were supposed to continue the ending of the book, and I know it just tapers off at the end, I just got lazy and already reached the minimum number of pages. I just want to publish my work somewhere so I figured why not here?

BTW- _The Giver_ belongs to Lois Lowry, not me. Peace \\//

* * *

The soft, beautiful music. People's voices, singing, in the land he had come from. The dull, emotionless land where he had lived all of his life. Jonas shook his head, unwilling to believe it.

_There's no music there_, he thought. _There never has been and there never will be. _

Jonas focused on the singing in the land that he was heading to while rapidly sledding down the hill. He pulled Gabriel closer to him and attempted to give him another memory of warmth, but he drew back his hand at what he felt at that moment. When he looked at the colored lights on the trees, he felt warmth. More than just that; love. Gabriel must have felt it too because he stirred in Jonas's shirt.

Jonas immediately remembered the first time he had ever felt love. It was the memory that The Giver had given him about the family celebrating the holiday together. He realized that the colored lights on the trees here were the same as in the memory.

_This is it!_ Jonas thought.

It was true. Jonas had finally reached the Elsewhere. The land with all of the memories that he had received. The land that was so familiar to him. He immediately knew that this was the land he wanted to live the rest of his life.

_If only The Giver had come_... he thought sadly to himself.

The sled bumped on something and swerved out of control. Jonas pulled on the reins, but that didn't do any good. The sled spun in circles, unwilling to stop on the endless hill. All of the sudden, it crashed into a tall pine tree that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Jonas and Gabriel were thrown out of the sled and onto the hard, icy ground. Jonas quickly sat up and checked on Gabe. To his relief, Gabriel was alright, except he was crying because of the impact on his little body. Jonas patted his back and gave him any wisp of a memory of comfort that he had left. He had used most of his memories earlier when the times were worse.

Jonas stood up, carrying Gabriel, and looked around. The snow was so heavy, and it was hard to see. Jonas couldn't even see which way he had come from; the hill was completely out of sight. Jonas's ears strained to hear any of the singing voices he had heard earlier, but there was nothing. He tried to catch even the slightest glimpse of the red, blue and yellow lights glittering on the trees, but the snow was too thick. He looked around once more, and started to walk forward. There was nowhere else to go.

_I guess I haven't reached the Elsewhere. I was so close..._

Hours passed without finding anything, and Jonas remembered the events that had occurred before he and Gabriel had found the sled and made their way down the hill. The time he and Gabriel had walked through the blizzard for weeks, the snow never seeming to end. Jonas shuddered at the thought of going through the painful experience again.

Suddenly, at that moment, Jonas, and Gabriel for that matter, felt warmth and love again.

_But why? _Jonas thought. _I don't see anything. Is it because we are closer to the Elsewhere than I think we are? Closer to the singing voices and the family?_ Jonas hoped so.

After walking for a few more hours to no avail; Jonas noticed a change in the love that he felt. He didn't notice it earlier because it was so gradual, but he could definitely feel it now. The only conclusion that Jonas could draw was that he actually was getting closer to the Elsewhere, just as he had hoped earlier. Just when the feeling felt overpowering, Jonas saw the lights again. This time they were closer than they had appeared when Jonas was on the sled. And the music, oh Lord, the music! It sounded like a chorus of angels. He hugged Gabriel closer to his chest and smiled down at him. He was asleep with snow collecting on his little eyelashes. He looked so peaceful.

Jonas, with the last ounce of energy he could muster, ran through the snow, knowing that it would only be a matter of time before he reached this place. He finally reached a small town surrounded by large pine trees. He walked around the border of trees until he came to a splendid golden gate. Jonas stared at it for a minute. He took a deep breath.

_This is it. For real._ He pushed open the gate and walked in the town.

On the inside, this town looked much like the small society that he had lived in for so long. But at the same time, it couldn't have been more different. There was no Sameness; instead, there was emotion, color, and weather. All of the memories that the Giver had given Jonas were flooding back to him. It felt so wonderful. People of the town were walking around outside, they all looked very different. Jonas felt a great sense of freedom here. He was welcome in the town by the people, and here he stayed for six months, learning about it. Jonas learned that in this place, people made their own decisions; there was a lot of variety in daily life. People chose their own Assignments, and they chose them years after they were a Twelve, when they were more responsible and less of a child. People also chose their mates, a very big decision. They had birthdays, instead of a ceremony with everyone else their age. It was like the memory of the birthday party that Jonas had received what seemed like so long ago, where a child was celebrated as its own individual. There weren't as many age roles with the coming of birthdays as Jonas was used to.

Over the time that passed, Gabe grew more and more in this different town. He seemed to like it a lot more too. And over the time, Jonas had made a big decision. He was going to find societies farther and farther out into the Elsewhere. On the decided day; he left Gabe to be taken care of by the family that Jonas had lived with throughout his time here. He took a bike and a surplus of food and set off, pedaling towards the unknown with nothing but his memories to survive.

There was one thing missing, though.

_I'll be back before you know it, Gabe. You'll be big and strong and you'll come and live with me, but I promise. I _will _be back._


End file.
